So Quite New
by Finnigan Geist
Summary: Orihime has a goal, and she's determined to see it through.


**Summary**: Orihime has a goal, and she's determined to see it through.  
**Warnings**: Holy crap, kissing.

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Orihime wanted to kiss Ishida.

This was a fact, like how the sky was blue and peanut butter went well with everything. She wasn't sure how she first came to realize it, or how she could be so suddenly certain when she'd never had a clue before, but it was there, and it was serious, and so she had to do something about it.

At first she thought she might be able to ignore it and get on with her school work like normal, but the thought wouldn't leave her alone, even when she was doing math, which she had always believed could destroy any happy ideas. _A (squared) + B (squared) C (squared), I want to kiss Ishida-kun. I want to kiss his lips until they smile, I want to kiss his jaw and his hair and the callouses on his fingers._ She blushed as she wrote and stole looks at Ishida's back, adding _I want to kiss all along his hairline_ to her notes.

To top it off, she felt a strange bubbly sensation low in her belly when he was close to her, or across the room, or when she was thinking of him, which pretty much meant it was with her all the time. The situation was dire, and, soon, Kissing Ishida became her mission.

She took to sitting next to him in Handicrafts Club and planning ways to get them alone, but, unfortunately, even if there were many gangs of roving bandits who would attack the school and force the two most sewers to procreate for the sake of a better future, they had lousy timing, because they never showed up when she needed them. She watched his long, elegant fingers as she tried to figure out how to get him to kiss her. Tatsuki had said something about grabbing her breast and waiting for him to take the lead, but she simply couldn't understand how that would work out, especially if she factored Ishida into the equation. The steady, rhythmic movement of his hands almost always distracted her, and she ended up staring at them. She remembered that those hands held her once, in Soul Society. They were strong, much stronger than she'd expected them to be.

The plus side to her fruitless plotting was that at least she was sitting next to him, and he started talking more. At first they discussed threads, needles, fabric, and their most difficult projects to date. They progressed to favorite food dishes, favorite books, subjects, teachers, and places they'd lived. Orihime discovered that Ishida observed a lot, and he had an odd, dry sense of humor when relating stories about the people he'd been with in his young life. She really didn't mind the chatting in the meantime, but she was becoming increasingly anxious to pin him down and kiss him - and the longer she waited, the wilder her imagination made the event, and these unhelpful thoughts would often pop into her head at the least appropriate times.

It got to the point where Orihime was thinking about Ishida almost constantly, and to her surprise, when she was thinking about him, she was wishing for his simple presence, simply to speak to him, as much as she was thinking about Making Her Move.

The moment finally came when they were cleaning up together after everyone else had left handicrafts club. They talked as they pushed in chairs, and when Orihime joked about something, he laughed. She'd never seen him laugh before, or even smile that big, and her heart hurt to realize it. Before she knew the words were forming, she said, "Ishida-kun, I'd like to kiss you."

He staggered, accidentally smashing his hand between a table and a chair. "I... Inoue-san, that's..." He adjusted his glasses nervously and wouldn't look up. Under the shadow of his hair, she could see he was blushing. She stepped closer to him, urged by the increasingly frantic bubbling in her stomach. It was getting increasingly difficult _not_ to kiss him, which confused her. She'd gone so long without kissing any boys, she should be able to handle it better.

"May I?" she asked. He sputtered again, shoved his glasses up his nose, looked at her, and nodded.

Orihime moved forward and pressed her mouth to his, perhaps a little too forcefully, because she could feel their teeth collide behind their lips, and it hurt enough that she almost yelled "ow!" but that would have meant completely ruining her first kiss with Ishida. He didn't move and neither did she, and for a long moment, they simply stood like that, with their lips mushed together.

If this was all, kissing was a bit disappointing. She must be doing something wrong. She was beginning to pull away and apologize when Ishida moved. He grabbed her shoulders, his fingers curling into her sleeves, and brought her back to his mouth. He breathed, finally, shakily, and opened his mouth. Their lips were pressed so close together that hers opened, too, and then he tentatively moved his tongue across her bottom lip and then... and then she was _kissing_ him.

All of a sudden, she couldn't hold herself back, and she flung arms around him so eagerly he had to take a step back to balance himself. The unexpected movement made her miss a little and drag her bottom lip over the tip of his nose. He made a curious noise at that, but she cut it off with another kiss, this one well-aimed.

After a few moments of awkward fumbling, they seemed to fell into a more natural rhythm, moving to automatically accomodate the other. There will still slips; a couple of times, their teeth collided, and once she accidentally bit him. She wanted to apologize for that one and started to giggle, but Ishida obviously didn't care, because he just slipped a hand into her hair, holding the base of her skull, pulling her closer, and effectively cutting off her laughter before it could even begin. His other hand gripped her arm at the elbow, squeezing hard enough to almost distract her from what she was doing. Orihime's own hands were clutching his shirt, probably digging little nail imprints into the small of his back.

So this... this was better. This was making her head spin and fly, though she was completely, incredibly aware of the ground under her feet, as well as every single part of her body that was touching his.

When they pulled apart, she was out of breath and couldn't logically explain why. She had just been kissing him, not running a marathon, but her heart was pounding and her breath hurt her lungs. She was a little dizzy, too, she noted as her vision blurred for a moment.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Erk," was all Ishida could say in return.

"Thank you." He choked and nodded, running his hand carefully up and down her forearm. It almost tickled, but mostly it just felt nice. Comfortable. Her eyes trailed lazily from his hands to his neck to his face.

Orihime couldn't remember being so close to Ishida before and really _looking_ at him. He truly was lovely; his face was shaped without flaw or irregularity. His skin looked smooth, and it would probably be soft if she touched it. She wondered why he always wore his hair in his face, and, without thinking, she lifted a hand and gently brushed his bangs away, trailing her nails over his skin. His cheekbones were high and perfect, and she wanted to string perfect little kisses across them. He looked so young and vulnerable, staring at her with his wide, blue eyes, and her heart was burning. She used to think that there was nothing more ordinary than being beautiful - after all, people called her lovely, and she felt like the most ordinary girl alive - but she couldn't have been more wrong. Ishida was the most beautiful boy in the world, but she doubted anyone had ever told him that.

"Ishida-kun," she murmured, moving her fingers in little circles by his temple. He leaned into the touch, never looking away from her, and made a soft "mmm?" noise. "Ishida-kun, I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you." His eyes widened in surprise and a blush spread over those wonderful cheekbones and her arms ached to hold him.

He drew in a shaky breath, dropped his eyes from hers, and made some more incomprehensible choking noises. It took Orihime a moment to realize that he was probably intending to tell her he thought she was beautiful in return, but she didn't need to hear it. She didn't want to hear it; she _knew_. So she lifted herself up on her toes to reach his mouth, gently finding his lips again.

Orihime kissed him; she kissed his mouth and his cheeks and his hands and forehead and she didn't stop kissing him.

end

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_what a kick! how i buzzzzzz... boy, you click like no one does_


End file.
